John Leyland Price passed away on November 13, 2022, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. John was born and raised in Bartonville, Illinois. John was predeceased by his wife of 57 years, Joanne (Kinney) Price, his parents Rex and Alice (Leyland) Price, and brothers Robert Price and Thomas Price. He is survived by his and Joanne’s children, Stephen (Cameo) Price, Jonathan Price, Thomas Price, and Matthew (Karen) Price; nine grandchildren, John, Kayla, Janet, Catherine, Alicia, Meaghan, Abigail, Kaitlyn and Jessica; and three great-grandchildren, Adam, Benjamin and Anthony; his brother James Price and sisters Janet Dorey and Marjorie Cullen. John served in the U.S. Air Force and studied engineering at Bradley University, during which time he met Joanne, who was then in nursing school. Upon graduating, he joined Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Illinois as an engineer. John married Joanne and took a position with Aeroquip Corporation, moving into management, and advancing in the company, taking him to Barrington, Illinois; Cardiff, Wales; Lawrence, Kansas; Jackson Michigan, and Sylvania, Ohio, where after 30 years he retired as Chief Operating Officer. Always passionate about his work, John then joined Capgemini America, Inc. as a management and operations consultant, working with large manufacturing companies around the world, and in 1995 he relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and joined FlexFab, Inc., in Hastings, Michigan, working on its management team until his retirement in 2001 as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; he spent the last 27 years of his life in Grand Rapids. John and Joanne were avid travelers and sailors, enjoyed family camping and ski trips and the annual lake weeks, and were among the original Board members of the Barrington Area United Drive, which raised funds toward the construction of a hospital in Barrington, Illinois. John was a Scout leader in his children’s Troop, a talented amateur photographer, and fan and supporter of the Arts. His greatest enjoyments came from family gatherings, and close friends. Visitation will be held 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, Saturday, November 19, 2022, at O’Brien-Eggebeen-Gerst Chapel, 3980 Cascade Rd. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Funeral service to follow at 1:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, 27777 Franklin Rd. #1150 Southfield, MI 48034 or the Grand Rapids Symphony, at Grand Rapids Symphony.
4 Responses
John was a great friend and work colleague.
He always had great stories to tell and made himself available to discuss work at any
time of the day.I will miss his frequent texts
with his political views and humor.
Rest In Peace My Friend.
What a beautiful obituary! I’m very sorry for this loss of this wonderful family man. Sending peace and hugs during this sad time.
I’m John Leyland, Marilyn’s husband and “Johnny” Price’s cousin. My dad, Tom Leyland was the brother of Alice Price and Mary Higgins.
I would like to recall two memories of John. The first was on one of our family visits to the Price home when I was 4 or 5 years old. Uncle Rex, John, and Margie took me to the basement and cut out two circus animals for me with a jig saw: an elephant and a giraffe. I was very impressed.
The second memory is of the party for John’s Bradley graduation where he was the cadet colonel of the Air Force ROTC. I was in seventh grade and crazy about all things aviation. I took along a model B-17 I had just built to show him. John was wonderful to me. He spent time admiring my work, then went to his room and brought several aviation books as a gift. I have always admired him. We share your sorrow at his passing and will keep all of you in my prayers.
John T. Leyland, MD
My sincere condolences to the Price family from the UK branch of his Mother’s family. I never got to meet John, but having read his wonderful obituary, we have a lot in common and I’m certain we would have got along very well! Rest in peace Cousin.